Day 27...3 to go.

Oh dear, I think I just figured out why I might not be losing weight.  So, you're familiar with the Morning Glory Muffins by now.  They are pretty much amazing and I kind of feel like I'm cheating a bit by eating them.  I'm totally not.  They are Paleo legit.  All ingredients I can eat.  The sweetness comes from the carrots, raisins and apples.  If you recall, I ate 3 in one sitting last week.  Oh dear.  Tonight, I decided to make one last batch before the challenge was over.  After reading my book about having a negative energy balance, I decided to figure out how many calories were in each muffin.  While making the batch, I wrote down the calories for each quantity of each ingredient.  Then, I added up all the calories and divided the total by 12 (the number of muffins each batch makes).  Oh dear.  Each muffin is 340 calories!!  Yes, and I had 3 in one sitting last week.  I was having 2 for breakfast!  That's a 680 calorie breakfast!  Oh dear.  No wonder I'm working my butt off running, biking and crossfitting and not losing any weight.  I'm maintaining my weight pretty well, but I'm not losing that much.  Ok, so it's ok.  Now I know.  I will stop the insanity.  Even though I just took a fresh batch out of the oven and they smell heavenly.  I will limit myself to one a day.  I have to.

Other than the muffin revelation, I had another revelation.  After work, I went to Kroger to get some final ingredients to make my muffins.  Today, I was feeling pretty good about myself because when I got on the scale this morning I was down 6 lbs!  So, I was feeling confident.  I wore some jeans that I haven't been able to wear in awhile.  Then came the Kroger monitor.  I know you've seen it as you walk in and walk out.  It's the security camera monitor that hangs in front of the door.  I'm not narcissistic, but I look at myself in those things and in store front windows and I know you do too.  When I looked, I expected to be happy about what I saw.  Instead, I was so upset.  That camera added like 20 lbs I swear.  I did not look that fat in the mirror this morning.  Just to make sure I wasn't seeing things I looked again on the way out.  Yep, still fat.  Good Lord.  If you want to maintain confidence, do not look up at these monitors in Kroger.  It scares me because I feel like you never know what you really look like.  Maybe the mirrors are lying.  Maybe you are really as big as the monitor makes you look.  I'm sitting here watching the Voice and I see Christina Aguilera  go up and hug these people and she's wearing this horribly unflattering outfit for her current shape.  I'm sure she looks better in person, but everything looks really big on TV.  You have to think that a superstar like that had to look in the mirror and feel good about what she looked like before she went on national TV.  But what if the mirrors are lying.  What if we all look like Christina Aguilera (minus the over-exposed cleavage)? Oh dear.  That's scary.  The scariest part is that I'm sure if I stood next to her in real life she'd be as big as my left thigh.  So if she looks big, I will look like a dinosaur that could eat her for dinner.  My new goal is to look good in the Kroger monitors.  When I do, I will strike a pose for the poor soul reviewing the tapes.

So, I started the day off good.  6 lbs down.  I had good intentions of eating very well.  I brought a sweet potato and vegetables for lunch but Nova made me go out.  So I ended up having a hamburger lettuce wrap with asparagus.  I'm home alone this week so I had good intentions of grilling chicken after my run, but I just didn't want chicken.  So, I made my smoothie and had a nice hot calorie-rich muffin.  Yea, I could've done better today, but tomorrow is a new day.

In case you want to try the extremely healthy but calorie rich muffins that I've been raving about, the recipe is below.  You can thank Tracy for this.  Just control yourself.  Just have one a day.  It can be your one treat.  Enjoy.

Until tomorrow...

Morning Glory Muffins
2 1/2 cups almond flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 large apple peeled and grated
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup raisins
3 eggs
2 tablespoons honey (optional - I did not use it and they were still good)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350
-In a large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt. Once combined add carrots, apples, coconut and raisins and mix well.
-In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, honey (if using), coconut oil, and vanilla (in case you haven't read my other blog post, you must microwave the coconut oil in order to "whisk" with the eggs.  Make sure it cools before you add the eggs or you'll have scrambled eggs). Add this to the "dry" mixture.
*Note the batter will be very thick
-Grease a muffin tin (I used some more coconut oil but I have to say this did not make them nonstick)
Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin. (These to no really "rise" so sort of overfill the muffin hole. They cook in the shape you leave them)
-Bake 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Tips:
The smaller the grate of the carrot and apple the better
Allow batter to rest for 30-60 minutes before spooning...they will be more moist.